LIKELY VOTERS ASKED: Measures supported

Poll: Two controversial statewide ballot questions ahead comfortably

CARSON CITY -- Two controversial statewide questions on the November
ballot -- one to ban gay marriage and the other to legalize the medical use
of marijuana -- have strong support among voters, but a well organized
attack against either measure could make a difference by Election Day,
according to one analyst.

A poll for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and lasvegas.com shows 59 percent of
the likely voters in November support Question Two, which would give
constitutional protection to the state's current definition of marriage as
being only between a man and a woman. Thirty-four percent oppose the measure
and 7 percent remain undecided.

The numbers reflect only a slight change from June, when 61 percent
supported the measure, 30 percent opposed it and 9 percent were undecided.

Sixty-three percent of likely voters support Question Nine, which would
allow the possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes upon the
advice of a physician. Twenty-eight percent are opposed and nine percent
remain undecided.

"As of today, there is clearly enough support for both measures to see them
pass," said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research
Inc., which conducted the poll. "But it is easy to convince voters to vote
no on a ballot referendum by planting the seed of confusion.

"If an organized group was to spend a lot of money and cloud the issue, it
might make a difference," he said. "So I wouldn't call it a slam dunk."

Richard Ziser, chairman of the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage,
which is leading the fight for the passage of Question Two, said he is
fairly confident that voters will support the measure in November.

"We know we're sitting at around 60 percent support," he said. "Our goal is
to get those voters to the polls."

Ziser said the state needs its definition of marriage given constitutional
protection to ward off the possibility that a gay union recognized in
another state would be forced on Nevada by the federal courts.

But Ben Felix, co-chairman of Equal Rights Nevada, a group recently
organized to fight the measure, said the real issue isn't the protection of
marriage, but a move to deny basic legal rights to a minority group of
American citizens.

Same-sex couples do not currently enjoy many of the rights afforded to
legally married couples, such as being able to make medical decisions on
behalf of their partners, he said.

"We're not going after the institution of marriage," Felix said. "We would
just like to gain our basic legal rights."

The opposition group, which has the support of the American Civil Liberties
Union and other organizations, faces an uphill fight with only a tiny budget
compared to the well-financed supporters of the measure, he said.

If Question Two is approved by voters in November, it would have to be
approved a second time in the 2002 election before it would be included in
the state constitution.

The medical marijuana question has already passed once in Nevada, in 1998.
If it passes in November, the measure will become law and require the 2001
Legislature to draft legislation to implement it, said Dan Hart, leader of
Nevadans for Medical Rights, the group that qualified it for the ballot.

The measure, which passed 59 percent to 41 percent two years ago, is opposed
by many in law enforcement, but there is no organized campaign to try to
convince voters to defeat it.

"We expect support for the measure to remain consistent, and we'll work hard
to make sure that happens," Hart said. "It's an issue of compassion, of
allowing a physician to prescribe the drug for terminally ill and
catastrophically ill patients."

Coker said it would be easier for an organized group to defeat the medical
marijuana proposal than the gay marriage ban. The marijuana issue could be
attacked as a drug legalization effort, he said.

But opposing the gay marriage question would be more difficult, Coker said.
Even in states considered liberal, such as Hawaii and Vermont, politicians
supporting the idea of civil unions for gay couples have found themselves in
trouble in their re-election campaigns, he said.

The statewide poll of 627 registered Nevada voters was conducted Sept. 9 to
12 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points. The sample size was 48
percent men and 52 percent women, with 42 percent Democrats, 45 percent
Republicans and 13 percent independents.